Oh look, it's Dietrich

Hi, folks,

So I'm singing with this great little group called Calliope. We do concerts off-season: September and February, and 75% of our members belong to other groups in the area.

Currently we are about 28 singers, SATB, and a small orchestra. The emphasis is on approaching music from the inside out, discovering nuances of gesture and expression, especially in well-worn music, and presenting a unifed, balanced sound while calling on the individual talents and responsibilities of each and every performer.

We rehearse on Tuesday evenings from 7-9:30 in Back Bay, and our September concert is on the 15th.

This September we'll be performing the Faure Requiem (in its reduced, more chamberlike form, closer to Faure's original intent), two pieces by Samuel Barber, and four motets by Durufle.

If you are a baritone or bass who is interested in checking them out, let me know!

Hi, all,

My friends list, it occurs to me, has gotten out of control, and while I was away I met a bunch of new people to add.

So, as people do from time to time, I've effected a pruning.

If I've dropped you, it's probably because we haven't talked in forever, and it's very likely that you already dropped me.

If I haven't added you back, it's either because I don't know/trust you enough, or because I have no idea who you are! If you notice I haven't added you back and you think I should know who you are, let me know! If we haven't met in person, though, it's unlikely, still, that I'll add you back.

Then there's my default view. Even when I keep people on my friends list, I don't read everyone there - it'd take forever. But I leave you on because so many of my posts are locked, and I'm happy to have you read them if you are so inclined.

I've just changed up my default view and do so periodically, so sometimes I'll be reading you and sometimes not. So it goes!

Love to all.

At long last, pictures from the wedding, taken by the inestimable mmayhem, are here:

http://pics.livejournal.com/dietrich/gallery/00001wz4

Enjoy, and let me know if you want any of them bigger!

Hey, folks,

This promises to be a really cool event in the Psychology Goes to the Movies series, happening tonight at 7.

imlad and I bought seats, but can't go. Two seats available now, $12 apiece, price negotiable due to non-refundability.

Let me know today!

I've decided that way too much of my time is sucked in reading my Friends list. I already have a filter determining whom I read regularly and whom I don't, but I've just hacked it down even more. It's just too much to keep up with.

So I wanted you all to know that if I meet up with you and I don't know about what's going on in your life because I haven't read your LJ, it's nothing personal. In fact, I'm probably much more interested to hear it all from you in person. Those remaining on my reading filter are there either because 1) you're very close to me, or 2) you're just too damned interesting and/or funny for me to give up.

I thought of giving up reading LJ entirely for a month, but those cold-turkey kind of moves rarely work well for me - I just end up bingeing within a week.

So please, don't be offended. Incidentally, all of you are staying on my friends list - so anything protected that I write, you can still see. Or not, if you also are totally overloaded with reading LJ. :)

Burning Man stories coming...when I can manage it.

Dietrich out.

I seem to be going to Burning Man!

I'll see y'all on the 6th. (And I'll see some of you there!)

EDIT: They're not going to kill them. (I might kill the people who keep giving animal lovers a bad name, however...) But these animals do very much need homes. Please go here for how to help!

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I can't have dogs in my current apartment, but I'm trying at least to spread the word about this, and might put forth a bit of money as well. Please repost whereever you feel appropriate and forward to your friends.

******

Subject: [DachsForum] Fw: Massive Greyhound rescue

PERMISSION TO CROSS POST. DO NOT HIT REPLY, USE CONTACT INFO BELOW

Leigh Grady
Executive Director
Animal Shelter Inc. of Sterling
17 Laurelwood Road
Sterling MA 01564
978 422 8585 shelter
978 563 1039 fax
www.sterlingshelter.org

500 Dogs to Die! (posted 5/1/05)

The greyhound track in Plainfield, CT voted on April 26th that they would discontinue greyhound racing. Unfortunately - and heartbreakingly -
they've also decided that rescuers have only two weeks to get the dogs out, and any dogs remaining at the track on May 14th will be euthanized. This is a monumental task because there are at least 500 dogs currently at the track. These are all young, healthy dogs, 2-4 years of age, who would make great family pets.

Why is the track doing this? Greyhound racing is a business and because the track is no longer profitable, they're getting out. To us, dogs are
cherished companions. To the greyhound racing industry, dogs are expendable commodities to be disposed of in whatever way is least expensive and most convenient when they aren't making money.

We've committed to saving as many dogs as we possibly can in the next two weeks. We'll be working with an experienced greyhound rescuer who has been placing retired greyhounds for many years. She will be going to the track and bringing us dogs. As soon as we have more room, we'll do it again. We will repeat as many times as we can before May 14th. After May 14th, there will be no dogs left alive at the track.

In order to save as many dogs as we can, we are going to try something we've never done before; sending as many as possible out into foster care by May 14th. Every time we send a dog into an adoptive home or a foster home, we can take another dog off the track. We will take the fostered dogs back into the Dakin Animal Shelter for adoption over the next few months as spaces open up for them - as long as they're off the track by May 14th, they'll be safe.


How can you help?

a.. Adopt a greyhound They're wonderful dogs - gentle, quiet, sweet, and graceful. The ones we'll be getting will be good companions with other
dogs and with cats. Surprisingly, they're couch potatoes. They do need to be in a fenced area or leash walked; they aren't dogs to let run loose. For
information on what it's like to take a greyhound home, visit www.greyhoundgang.com. To find out what greys we have available for
adoption, call us at 413-548-9898 or visit our dog adoption page.

b.. Foster a greyhound If we can send greys into foster care and out of our Shelter, we can pull more from the track before May 14. We'll get them
back into the Shelter over the next few months. We will provide all their medical care and a crate to make their transition easier. You provide your time & love and together we will give them a new life! For information on what it's like to take a greyhound home, visit www.greyhoundgang.com. If you can help, or are interested in more information, contact us at 413-548-9898.

c..Donate Money: We are going to need extra funds to help these dogs. We'll be buying crates and other supplies as well as paying all their medical
bills. You can send a check to: Dakin Animal Shelter, 163 Montague Road, Leverett MA 01054, or donate online. Please mark your donation "Save the Greys".

d.. Donate a large dog crate. We need these to send with the dogs going into foster care.

e.. Spread the word! The more people who know about this tragedy, the more help the dogs will get. Many of you have seen greyhounds in the community - they're lovely, gentle dogs.



When we started working with greyhounds, we discovered that there are a lot of misconceptions about them.

a.. Greys are not hyper - they're actually couch potatoes!
b.. They love to run - for about 5 minutes - in a safe, fenced area.
c.. Greys spend most of their day snoozing and adore soft sleeping places and all the comforts in life.
d.. They are actually very good dogs for apartments or small homes because of their low activity level.
e.. They are very clean dogs, and in some ways are very catlike in their cleanliness and love of comfort.
f.. Most greyhounds - including all the ones we'll be getting - can live with other dogs and cats, once they've been introduced, and actually
love living with other animals.
g.. They rarely bark and shed little.
h.. In their life on the track, they live in crates for 22 hours per day, so most things in the 'real world' are a surprise to them.
i.. They've never seen simple things such as: slippery floors (wood, tile); stairs; television; windows; cats; dogs who are not greyhounds!
j.. They generally housebreak very easily because they're completely crate trained (they aren't housebroken because they've never been in a house,
so they have to learn what a house is!).
k.. They walk very, very politely on leash - they learn that at the track.
l.. Greyhounds are very good companions for homes with gentle children because of their own gentle nature.

This is a tragedy of enormous proportions, and we've decided to throw everything we've got into doing as much as we can. It's easy to get
overwhelmed thinking about the scope of the problem - and do nothing. If we instead work together as a community, we CAN make a difference. The Dakin Animal Shelter has always relied upon our community for our support, and we're counting on you now. With your help, we WILL make a difference.

Leigh Grady
Executive Director
Animal Shelter Inc. of Sterling
17 Laurelwood Road
Sterling MA 01564
978 422 8585 shelter
978 563 1039 fax
www.sterlingshelter.org

Hey folks,

I have a full bottle (a little under 100 tablets) of Source Naturals Melatonin. They're peppermint-flavored sublinguals. I cannot take the stuff because it actually keeps me awake and makes me jittery as hell.

Would anyone like it?

All and Sundry:

Please write me at kamelathehut at excite dot com if you need to write me over the next 10 days!

Happy holidays to all!

Okay, it's long. But if you haven't yet, read this NY Times article about Bush, faith, and what makes his particular brand of leadership work for so many people. It's frightening - possibly more so than anything I've seen yet, and contains many private exchanges between Bush and advisors - many of whom are no longer invited to the White House because they question him too much.

EDIT: The following was the quotation from the article that I wanted to use. Thanks, cos!

In the summer of 2002, after I had written an article in Esquire that the White House didn't like about Bush's former communications director, Karen Hughes, I had a meeting with a senior adviser to Bush. He expressed the White House's displeasure, and then he told me something that at the time I didn't fully comprehend -- but which I now believe gets to the very heart of the Bush presidency.

The aide said that guys like me were ''in what we call the reality-based community,'' which he defined as people who ''believe that solutions emerge from your judicious study of discernible reality.'' I nodded and murmured something about enlightenment principles and empiricism. He cut me off. ''That's not the way the world really works anymore,'' he continued. ''We're an empire now, and when we act, we create our own reality. And while you're studying that reality -- judiciously, as you will -- we'll act again, creating other new realities, which you can study too, and that's how things will sort out. We're history's actors . . . and you, all of you, will be left to just study what we do.''
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